The Importance of Biblical Literacy

Biblical literacy to the modern Church is extremely important. As Bible-believing followers of Christ we have an obligation to know the Word upon which our faith is based. First we must define biblical literacy. Biblical literacy is being literate of the Bible, which not only is being able to read the Word at face value, but also being able to determine historical and cultural contexts and inter-contextual connections.

Nothing irritates me more than hearing some Christian thump someone on the head with their dazzling lack of Biblical knowledge in a heated argument. I hate to say it but many times this comes about from new Christians trying to hold fast to their new found faith. The idea is good; the execution of that idea is bad. Or, it commonly comes flying out of the mouth of pompous Christians trying to prove some sort of political or moral point based on a single piece of scripture taken entirely out of context.

I have bore witness to the most ridiculous arguments in the past between two such Christians. The idea of Christians quarreling like that is a completely separate rant. This argument was over whether or not the consumption of any alcohol was sin. One person was throwing out the idea that the body is the temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19-20) and we shouldn’t desecrate it with sin water. The other person’s argument was simply stating that Jesus made wine as his first miracle at a wedding (John 2:1-11) so it clearly wasn’t wrong. Both foundations of each individual’s arguments are true, so how can both arguments be right? Can both be wrong?

Questions Lead to Questions
Questions like these lead to further questions. In the original language of the New Testament, Greek, how was the word ‘wine’ used? What is Paul’s original context for saying that the body is the Temple of God? All of these questions can be answered with solid knowledge of biblical literacy.

In an effort to further illustrate this idea of the importance of biblical literacy, here’s an interesting thought; the prophecy of Emmanuel was fulfilled for the first time long before the birth of Christ. It is important here to note that the literal interpretation of Emmanuel is ‘God with us.’ The characteristics of the child Emmanuel are described in Isaiah 9:6-7. Traditional Christian beliefs hold that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of these descriptions. This is true, of course, so don’t get upset with me, but the first fulfillment happened before Jesus’ birth.

Matthew is the New Testament connection that claims Jesus is the fulfillment, or rather a re-fulfillment of the Emmanuel prophecy. Matthew’s gospel is written for a Jewish audience, knowing this he makes every effort to make sure that the reader has an assurance that Jesus of Nazareth is a sign that ‘God is with us’ (or Emmanuel) and the Messiah. He lets readers know this in Matthew 1:23 and he also quotes the famed passage of Isaiah 7:14 to really drive the point home.

A traditional Jewish audience would view that the prophecy of Emmanuel written in Isaiah would have already been fulfilled. Jewish readers understand the passages in Isaiah literally. The prophecy is therefore, referring to a child born during the reign of king Ahaz. King Ahaz was the initial receiver of the prophecy and does not consider the verses to be connected with the forthcoming Messiah. They would interpret the verse as referring to a son of Isaiah, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, who is called Emmanuel in Isaiah 8. With the birth of Maher-shalal-hash-baz comes the destruction of Damascus and Samaria, as Isaiah 7 predicts would accompany the birth of Emmanuel.

In this briefest of examples I hope that you will be able to see the importance of knowing the historical and cultural contexts of scripture as well as scriptural connections. It is importance for us not only to know scripture, but also to know its purpose, its authors, its cultures, and its contexts.

Having a grasp of biblical literacy on the topic of Emmanuel not only clues us in as to what the Word is saying, but also alludes to an aspect of the nature of prophecy, in that; a prophecy can be interpreted to be fulfilled more than once. Prophecy is, indeed, a delicate complexity. The Church often uses the prophetic to predict God’s impending doom or set forth a pre-determined course of action for something (or if you have or will ever attend a Bible college you will probably either be dumped or asked out based on a prophecy or leading). These are both true aspects of prophecy; however, it is not the whole of prophecy. A prophecy can still be a true prophecy even if it doesn’t ever occur. We learn this from the story of Jonah. Jonah once released from the whale makes his way to Nineveh and prophecies the city’s impending doom because of how they have been. We see that the city, to the odd discouragement of Jonah, repents and is saved. The gloomy prophecy is not fulfilled. Does that make it less from the Lord? Prophecy, in some cases, can serve as a warning and save people, thus preventing the actual fulfillment.

Let Your Faith Increase
It can be concluded that from a solid biblical literary standpoint that the prophetic doesn’t necessarily have to occur or merely be fulfilled once to be a true prophecy. The stipulation for prophecy is that it is from God. We also see in scripture that people can affect the outcome of prophecy in some instances. That, my friends, is mind-boggling.


Biblical literacy is an exceedingly important foundation of a Bible-believing faith. The next time you decide to sit down and let the Bible answer some questions of faith and life pick up a corresponding commentary and concordance and really have at it. Get lost in the scriptures and let them show you things you have never even thought of before. Let your faith increase!